Sunday, June 1, 2014

Best Onion Rings Ever & Money Saving Grocery Tip

With the summer months here and all of us using the BBQ for friends and family gatherings, I thought I would repeat one of my family's favorites to go with all those hamburgers and hot dogs.

I love onion rings,but I don't like the ones that are tons of batter and the onions seem all limp and soggy inside. I have a recipe for the best Beer Battered rings you will ever eat, and so easy.

The secret is in the recipe. You use 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of cornstarch plus 2 teaspoons baking powder.
Mix in small amounts of beer until you have the batter the consistency of pancake batter. Thick, but not too thick.

Stir until smooth , no lumps. Not too thin.

Cut the onion slices about 1/2 inch thick and seperate into rings. Place a few at a time in the batter, turning with tongs to coat them well.

Place in skillet with enough hot oil to float the rings. Keep the oil hot, but not so hot they burn. As they brown turn to cook both sides. This takes just a minute.

Place on paper towel to drain. Season with salt and pepper to taste. These are so light, crispy and non-greasy yummy. Your family will love them.

Now for a money saving grocery tip. When I was a single mom with 3 children, I use to buy my ground beef in bulk when it was on sale. Instead of packaging it up in 1 lb. packages, I packaged it up in 3/4 lb. packages. No one missed the 1/4 lb and and all of my recipes tasted the same. This is a super way to turn 4 lbs of ground beef into 5 serving size packages.. Now that I am mostly cooking for just the two of us I have started doing the same. Since good ground beef is $2.99 lb (on sale), that turns out to be a great savings, better than most coupons.

I just put them in small freezer bags and then I keep them on the shelf inside the freezer compartment door. Really easy to just grab one for us or more if I am cooking for a crowd.

Here's my most pinned and copied (over 150,000 times) recipe to stretch your pennies even further. ( I wrote this a couple of years ago and I used ground chuck. Still a great way to feed a bunch and always a crowd pleaser.) Hamburger/Cheese Casserole

Hi Marty,The onion rings look so yummy will try these. Hubby's favorite. I am also going to try the cheeseburger casserole. I think I put on 10 lbs just reading these delicious recipes. LOL!Have a great Sunday.Kris

I copied that recipe for Hamburger Cheese casserole as I'm have several of the grandchildren over for dinner next weekend and thought that they might like it too. I'm making oven fried chicken for the adults but the little ones seem to prefer anything that looks or tastes like macaroni and cheese. Thanks for the recipes and money saving tips.

Great tip, Marty! I have recently started buying those big family size packages even though it is just hubby and I now. It is not only a good idea when it is on sale, but winds up lasting a longer time between shopping trips. I have started doing it with chicken breasts. I get the thick ones and just separate them into one per package. I then slice them in half when they defrost for our meal, so they are thin cutlets and these are fine for us. When I was making the full thick cutlet we couldn't finish them.

Oh, Marty -- thanks so much for sharing both of these recipes at Tasty Tuesdays! We love onion rings, and the casserole sounds perfect for feeding a crowd, which I have. Pinning to the party board and my personal board! :)

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About Me

Hi, I'm Marty. Welcome - Moving back closer to family finds us transforming our "Builder Basic" into a home that reflects our lifestyle. This is where I share simple design ideas, easy diy projects and thrifty and chic finds. Careful planning, and a sharp eye for design can turn any house into your dream even if you have a small budget. I share it all, the successes and failures. We love to entertain so you'll find a few tried and true recipes and entertaining ideas too.